Material Handling Equipment & Workplace Storage
Material handling and storage covers every piece of equipment that moves, lifts, restrains or organises materials, drums, parts and loads around a workplace – from the castor on a trolley wheel to the chain block over a workshop bay. AIMS Industrial stocks this range across castors and wheels, drum handling, trolleys and pallet trucks, lifting and rigging equipment, ladders and access gear, load restraint, and workplace storage – more than 1,000 individual products drawn from specialist Australian and international brands. Not sure which one suits your job? Our Drum Handling Equipment Guide: Trolleys, Lifts & Drum Pumps covers selection in detail.
Getting material handling right matters for two reasons. The first is safety: manual handling remains one of the most common causes of workplace injury reported to Safe Work Australia, and a large share of those injuries come from lifting, carrying, pushing and pulling loads that could have been moved mechanically instead. The right trolley, hoist, castor or drum lifter takes the strain out of a task that would otherwise be done by hand, reducing the risk of sprains, strains and overexertion injuries. The second is efficiency – equipment matched to the load, the floor surface and the frequency of the task moves materials faster, with less product damage and less wear on the equipment itself.
Because this is such a broad category, we've organised it below by equipment type so you can go straight to the specific range you need. Each section links through to the dedicated AIMS collection for that equipment, where you'll find full technical detail, load ratings and product-level specifications.
Shop by Category
Castors & Wheels
The largest range in this hub. Swivel and fixed castors, plate and bolt-hole fixings, stem castors, braked castors and replacement wheels in rubber, nylon, polyurethane, cast iron and high-temperature compounds, from 40mm furniture castors through to heavy-duty industrial sizes. Sold predominantly under the EasyRoll brand, with wheel and castor accessories (buffers, adaptors, dual-purpose plates) alongside. If you're fitting or replacing wheels on a trolley, bin, workbench or machine base, start here rather than in the general hub.
Drum Handling
Purpose-built equipment for moving and dispensing from 20–205 litre drums: drum trolleys, drum dollies, drum cradles and overhead drum lifters rated for one-tonne (205L/44-gallon) drums. Includes Macnaught and Lubemate drum trolleys and Pacific Hoists overhead drum lifters. See this collection for anything specifically drum-shaped – it sits inside Material Handling & Storage but is detailed enough to warrant its own page.
Trolleys, Dollies & Jacks
Platform trolleys, hand trucks, hydraulic lifting trolleys and hand pallet trucks (pallet jacks) for moving palletised and boxed loads around a warehouse or workshop floor. Capacities in this range run from around 250kg platform trolleys up to multi-tonne hand pallet trucks, so check the rated capacity against your heaviest load before ordering.
Lifting Equipment
Our broadest lifting range: chain blocks and lever blocks, hand winches, hoists, cranes, rigging hardware, lifting slings, shackles, hooks, lifting magnets and clamps (including Lockjaw locking and ratchet clamps). Also includes stainless steel rigging and wire rope hardware – eye bolts, D-shackles, snap hooks, turnbuckles and swages – from Inox World, used for overhead lifting, tie-down points and rigging in corrosive or marine environments. Because this is itself a large category, it has its own dedicated collection page with full sub-category detail; browse it directly if lifting and rigging is your main interest.
Rigging & Lifting Slings
Chain slings, wire rope slings and flat lifting slings for rated overhead lifts, sold separately from the general Lifting Equipment range for teams who need to go straight to sling working-load-limits and configurations.
Vehicle Hoists & Automotive Lifting Tools
Two-post and scissor-style vehicle hoists and automotive-specific lifting tools for workshops servicing cars, utes and light commercial vehicles – a more specialised corner of the lifting range for automotive and fleet maintenance customers.
Ladders, Steps & Accessories
Safety steps and step platforms (including the Richmond safety step range) for safe access to elevated work at height in workshops and warehouses. A smaller, focused range – check this collection first if you need compliant step access rather than a full extension ladder.
Load Restraint
Ratchet tie-down straps and load restraint webbing (including the Raze Ratchet range, from 1/8″ light-duty straps up to 3/8″ heavy-duty) for securing loads on trucks, utes and trailers during transport. Search "ratchet strap" or "tie down" from the main site search to see the current range within this hub.
Workplace Storage
Storage cabinets, mobile workstations and workbenches, portable and site tool storage, small parts organisers, storage bins and dividers, louvre panel racking, and key storage – the equipment that keeps tools, parts and consumables organised, secure and close to where they're used. Notable ranges include Ezylok's Australian-made storage cabinets, louvre panel racking and mobile workstations, and Knaack site and jobsite tool storage boxes (Jobmaster and Storagemaster chests). Narrower collections sit underneath this one:
- Portable Tool Storage – site boxes, tool chests and job-site storage
- Small Parts Storage – compartment containers and parts organisers
- Bins, Trays & Drawers – stacking bins, trays and drawer inserts
- Key Storage – secure key cabinets and tagging systems
Conveyor Components
Gravity conveyor components – conveyor frames, stands and skate wheel sections, mostly from EasyRoll – for building or extending simple gravity-fed conveyor runs in a warehouse or dispatch area. A small but genuine part of the range; see the Conveyor Skate Wheels collection or contact our team for full conveyor frame and stand options.
How to Choose the Right Equipment
With a range this broad, the fastest way to narrow it down is to think through four practical questions before you start browsing product pages:
What are you moving, and how much does it weigh?
Match the rated capacity of the equipment to your heaviest expected load, not your average one – a platform trolley rated to 250kg should never be used to shift a 300kg load "just this once". For drums, match the lifter or trolley to the drum size (20L, 60L, 205L) and full weight, not the empty weight. For lifting equipment, always work to the rated working load limit (WLL) marked on the equipment, and never exceed it.
How often is the task repeated, and by whom?
A task done once a week can often be handled with a basic hand trolley or drum dolly. A task repeated dozens of times a day by different staff members justifies investment in purpose-built equipment – a hydraulic drum lifter, a dedicated pallet truck, or fixed racking – because the cumulative manual handling risk (and lost time from minor strain injuries) adds up fast across a shift.
What distance and terrain is involved?
Wheel and castor selection changes with the surface: smooth polyurethane or nylon wheels suit clean warehouse floors, rubber wheels handle rougher surfaces and outdoor aprons more quietly, and pneumatic or flat-free wheels are worth the extra cost on uneven yards or gravel. Longer distances also favour trolleys and pallet trucks with larger-diameter wheels, which roll more easily and put less strain on the person pushing.
What's the environment?
Wet, washdown, food-grade, high-temperature or corrosive environments all call for different materials – stainless steel rigging hardware and 316-grade fittings for marine or chemical exposure, high-temperature castor wheels near ovens or kilns, and powder-coated or galvanised storage cabinets where humidity or corrosion is a factor. If you're unsure which spec applies to your site, our product team can help you match the right material to the environment before you order.
Brands in This Range
AIMS Industrial's material handling and storage range is genuinely multi-brand rather than built around one supplier, which lets us match the right product to the job rather than the right job to one catalogue. Brands featured across the range include EasyRoll (castors, wheels and conveyor components), Ezylok (Australian-made storage cabinets, mobile workstations and louvre racking), Knaack (site and jobsite tool storage), Pacific Hoists (drum lifters, hand winches and rigging), Macnaught and Lubemate (drum trolleys), Lockjaw (locking and ratchet clamps), and Inox World (stainless steel rigging and wire rope hardware). Where a specific brand or standard matters to your application, ask our team – we can confirm current specifications before you order.
Frequently Asked Questions
What's the difference between a castor and a wheel?
A wheel is just the round rolling component. A castor is the complete assembly – wheel, bearing, and a mounting fitting (plate, bolt-hole or stem) that attaches it to a trolley, cabinet or machine base, usually with a swivel action so it can turn. If you're replacing a worn wheel on existing hardware you may only need a wheel; if you're building a new trolley or fitting mobility to a static item, you need a full castor.
What load capacity castor or trolley do I need?
Add up the total weight of the load plus the equipment itself, then choose a castor or trolley rated comfortably above that figure – as a rule of thumb, don't run equipment at its maximum rated capacity day-to-day. For multi-castor setups (four castors under one trolley, for example), remember the total capacity isn't simply four times one castor's rating, since load isn't perfectly even across all wheels; check the trolley manufacturer's overall rated capacity rather than multiplying a single castor's figure.
Can I use a hand pallet truck on any floor surface?
Hand pallet trucks are designed for smooth, hard floors – concrete, epoxy-coated warehouse floors or similar. They're not suited to gravel, grass or heavily uneven surfaces, where the small wheels can jam or the load can become unstable. For rough or outdoor terrain, a platform trolley with larger pneumatic or flat-free wheels is a better fit.
How do I know what's a safe drum lifter for a full 205L drum?
Check the rated capacity marked on the lifter against the full weight of the drum plus contents – a 205L (44-gallon) drum of most industrial liquids fully loaded can weigh close to 250kg, so look for lifters rated to at least 1 tonne (1000kg) for standard steel drums, which is the common rating for overhead drum grabbers in this range. Always inspect lifting chains and slings before each use and never exceed the rated working load limit.
What's the difference between the Material Handling & Storage collection and the Lifting Equipment collection?
Material Handling & Storage is our full parent category, covering everything from castors and drum trolleys through to storage cabinets. Lifting Equipment is a more specific collection inside it, focused on hoists, winches, cranes, rigging, slings and overhead lifting hardware. If you already know you need lifting or rigging gear specifically, going straight to Lifting Equipment will get you there faster; browse this page when you're not yet sure which category covers what you need.
Do you stock storage cabinets and tool storage that's actually made in Australia?
Yes – our Ezylok range of storage cabinets, mobile workstations and louvre panel racking is Australian made, alongside imported ranges like Knaack's site and jobsite tool storage boxes. If Australian manufacture matters for your project or procurement requirements, ask our team to confirm current country-of-origin on any specific product before ordering.
What ratchet strap size do I need for tie-down?
Ratchet strap width and rated capacity should match the weight of the load and the number of straps you're using to secure it – heavier loads need wider straps (3/8″ and above) and/or multiple straps working together, while lighter loads on a ute or trailer can often be secured safely with narrower 1/8″–1/4″ straps. Check the strap's marked rated capacity (not its breaking strength) against your load, and always inspect webbing and ratchets for wear before each use.
I'm not sure which category my item falls into – can you help?
Absolutely – with a range this size it's common not to know the exact collection name. Get in touch with our team with a description of the task (what you're moving, lifting or storing, and how often) and we'll point you to the right product, or the right specialist collection, rather than leaving you to search through a thousand-plus products.